Lk 2:16-21
16[The shepherds] went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. 18All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. 19And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. 20Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
21When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Reflection
At New Year, it is opportune to recall the words which Pope John Paul II made his clarion call at the close of the Year of the Great Jubilee and at the beginning of the new millennium: Duc in altum! These were the words of Jesus himself. Recall how one day, after speaking from Simon Peter’s boat, he invited him to “put out into the deep” for a catch (Lk 5:4) [Novo Millennio Inuente, n 1].
The Jubilee celebration was truly a time of grace. Though it has left us many memories, let us keep in mind that it was not an end in itself. It was a point of arrival, and yet, at the same time, a point of departure. The Holy Father pointed out that what we have done by way of preparation for, and celebration of, the Jubilee should not “lead us to relax our commitment; on the contrary, the experiences of grace we have had should inspire in us new energy, and impel us to invest in concrete initiatives the enthusiasm which we have felt” (NMI, n 15). We must continue our journey. We must look ahead. We must “put out into the deep.”
Our journey is a pilgrimage of faith, hope, and love. Our task is to “show” Christ to others, to witness to his love. But our witness would be hopelessly inadequate if—as Pope John Paul II pointed out—we ourselves have not contemplated his face. In this vein, he shared that if he were asked about the legacy of the Jubilee, he would describe it as the contemplation of the face of Christ: Christ considered in his historical features, in his living presence in the Church and in the world, as one who gives meaning to history and light in our life’s journey.
For this contemplation, we have a most excellent exemplar in the Blessed Virgin Mary whom we celebrate today as Mother of God and our mother. The Gospel tells us that as the events surrounding Jesus’ birth unfold before her eyes, Mary keeps “all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” Mary is the Virgin-Mother because, believing and obeying, she brought forth on earth the Father’s Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. She is also the attentive Virgin, the Virgin in prayer. As the shepherds rejoice and share what they heard and saw, Mary remains silent, meditating on the ways of the Lord, and what these entail for her. She is the one who hears the word, embraces it with a generous and good heart, and so bears fruit through perseverance (see Lk 8:15). She is the model of the People of God who, in the light of the word of God, must examine the signs of the times and interpret and live the events of history (Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, n 17).
It is but proper, therefore, that, as we start today another year in our “pilgrimage of faith,” we look upon Mary as one who goes before us. She is the Maris Stella, the “Star of the Sea,” for all of us on the journey of faith. We look at her with confidence because she has already crossed the threshold between faith and the heavenly vision: she now sees God “face to face.”
Moreover, just as Jesus Christ has become a brother to all men and women by taking our humanity, so Mary has become a mother to all in the order of grace, a gift which Jesus gave us at the hour of the Cross: “Woman, behold your son… [and to the disciple] Behold your mother” (Jn 19:26-27).
Duc in altum! As we go forward in hope, as we quicken our steps along the highways of the world, we are accompanied by the Blessed Virgin, the Maris Stella who gives us the right direction. On the first day of the year, as we set out once more to proclaim Christ and his message, we likewise invoke Mary as the “Star of the New Evangelization.” Once she showed Jesus to the shepherds; in the new millennium, she continues to point her Son to us and says, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).